Hinge construction for swinging doors



June 20, 1944.

' A. F. BAUM E'r AL. 2,351,800

HINGE coNsTnucTIoN Fon swnxeme moons Filed March 2, 1942 Y/ v 2 A 3f ,l areZHQzd'ersQfa 33 27f- 25 i A/T12 Patented June 20, 1944 Arthur F. Baum andlAxel Alnderson, Elkhart, Ind., assignors to I-Iemyv Weis Manufacturing l Company, Inc., Elkhart,

Application March. 2, 1942', Serial No. 432,920 v 4 claims.v (ci. 1pc-154).

'This invention relates todoors and particupartments, and among other objects aims to provide a door which will remainy open when the compartment is unoccupied, but 'Will' remain closed 'Without the use of a lock when the compartment is occupied.

The nature of the invention may be readily understood by reference to one illustrative con-` struction embodying the invention and shown in the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan'view of a compartment showing various door positions.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the door.

Fi'g. 3 is a plan section of an enlarged scale of the lower door hinge, taken on the plane 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4v is a vertical section of the hingetaken on plane 4 4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a diagram'showing a development of the door-operating cam.

It is often desirable to prevent the locking of doors to toilet and other rooms and compartments. This applies, for example, to hospitals and other institutions where patients and particularly mental patients often attempt to lock doors against entrance of attendants. It also applies to kindergartens and elementary schools. The illustrative door remains shut'without locking when the compartment is occupied, but when unoccupied it automatically opens and remains,

open. This is of great practical importance. In the absence of a lock positively to prevent entrance of others, there should be reasonable preservation of privacy. Except when the compartment is occupied, the door tends to open and to remain open. A closed door therefore indicates occupancy of the compartment and thereby provides reasonable protection against unintentional interruption of privacy.

The door-operating forces in this case are components of gravity, Aand a gravity type of door hinge may advantageously be used for this purpose. A's here shown, the Weight of the door Iii is carried on a lower hinge II embodying a cam I2 Whose upper cam edge I3 (on which the Weight of the door rests) cooperates to develop the dooroperating forces. i Cam 'I2 is circular in vsection and its edge I3 forms a circular track or bearing surface inclined in certain regions to provide a component of force tending to swing the door. Such force is created by the camming action of the inclined surface (under the weight oi the door) against arelativelymovable bear'- ing member in the Vform o f ran anti-friction roller I4. In thepresent case, the cam I2 is stationary and the roller vI4 is movable with the door around theA upper surface I 3 of the cam.

l vBy inverting the cam and bearing member the latter may be made' stationary and the former axially rotatable. The door-operating forces may alsobe created by a spring which creates pressure between the bearing member and the inclined cam face. y

The roller I4 is, in this'instance, carried on a door pintle I5 appropriately connected with the lower-edge of'v the door and. centered in a bushing I6 (concentric with cam I2) and supported by thestatio'rlary hinge member I'I. The stationary hinge member I'I is inthe form of a housing enclosing the cam and rollen-and having a top IB which provides an additional bearing i9 for the "pintle The bottom of the housing advantageously conforms with the contour of the bottom of the cam I2 and the latter is clamped in position against such bottom by means of the screw-threaded extremity 2I of reduced section on'` bushing I6, which projects through register` ing central openings inthe cam I2 and bottom 20.l A nut 22 screwed on'the threaded extremity cooperates to clamp cam -I 2in position in the hinge member I'I; f

The general details of construction of the above hinge member II may advantageously be like those'in Jones et al. Patent'No. 1,920,509.

The 4contour of the surface I3 of the cam is in this case designed to exert a rotating force on Words, when thedoor isopened beyond position 23,as it'rmustbein'leaving the compartment,

; the door will automatically vswing open completely. A The surface on' the cam is furthermore designed to close the door` when it is moved inside the position 23 that is, closer to closed position than the position 23.

In Fig, 5 is niustratedfin developed form one contour' for cam yI3 for effecting the aforesaid op-` eration. 'I'he high point 25 of the cam represtentsI the position 23. The downward slope 26 serves to create the opening component of force. Suchf slope extends in this case to door-open position 21 which is approximately 90 degrees from closed position. The angular extent of the sloping surface 26 depends upon the angular displacement between open and closed position. In ordinary compartments this may be 90 degrees, but in some cases it may be almost 180 degrees. The short downward slope 28 extending in the opposite direction yfrom high point 25'provides the closing component of force. Its angular extent depends, as above stated, upon the angular displacement of the critical position 23. To minimize shock or slamming of the door against the wall or stop when it reaches open position, the lower extremity of the inclined surface 26 preferably terminates a notch or pocket 29 in which roller I4 seats and by means of'which its opening movement is arrested. To reduce themomentum of the door as it approaches open pOsition, the inclination of cam surface 2B may advantageously be reduced adjacent notch 29. The W point 30 for inclined surface 28 is preferably located slightly beyond door-closed position (as shown in Fig. 5)` to create a continuous component of force to hold the door shut.

The door thus tends to openand until it is manually closed toa position beyond the critical point 23, i. e. high point of the cam from which position it will automatically closeand remain closed without the necessitywof locking. Resistance to opening of the door is exerted until the latter is pushed beyond the point 23. On leaving the compartment, the occupantfmust move the door well beyond thepositionv 23- thereby changing the force on the Vdoor to anopening force which automatically opens the ,door and holds the door open. It resists closing until moved slightly beyond position 23.` i The illustrative cam member is yadvantageously designed to be universally applicable fordoors opening with either clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation, that is, for inwardly or outwardly swinging doors and for doors with thehinge on the right or left hand edge. For this lpurpose duplicate or reversely arranged inclined surfaces 3| and 32 are provided on the opposite side of door-open position 21 together with a low point 33 corresponding to low point 30. VThe .portion 34 of the cam edge beyond the low points 30 and 33 is, in the present instance,`idle. The angular extent of the idle surface 34'depends upon angle included between door-open, and door-closed position. Inclined surfaces 3| 'and'32 function when the door opens in a counter-clockwisedirection. While the critical `position A23 may be adjusted (within limits) simplyby changing the rotative adjustment of cam I2 inside housing I1, it is preferable to limit the extent of adjustment to avoid slamming of the door against the wall or stop when it moves to open position. Preferably, opening movement of `the door should be arrested by engagement of the roller. I4 in notch 29 andnot by contact ofthe door with the adjacent wall or with a bumper. To adapt the .hinge for a door opening outwardly or hinged along its left hand edge, it isonly necessary to change the relative positions of the cam I2 and roller I4 from the positions shownin Fig. 4. 'I'his is easily done by simply turning` the pintle I5 180 relatively to the door so that the roller I4 drops almost into the low point33 (instead'of 30) when the door is in closed position and rollsdown inclined surface 3| (instead of 2B) to low-point- 2'I corresponding to open position of the door. With the hingethus arranged the doorwill open outwardly in Fig. 1 insteadof inwardly as there 2,351,800 1 fi; f

shown. The hinge can of course be mounted on a xed frame member at the left hand side of the door with the roller engageable nearly with the low point 30 or 33 when the door is in closed position, depending on whether the door is to swing in or out in opening, as will be readily understood. In al1 cases the roller engages the low pointV 29 when the vdoorisin open position.

Any appropriate form of upper hinge 35 may be employed. Various forms are available on the open market and its details form no part of the present invention.

vObviously, the invention is not limited to the details of the illustrative construction since these may be variously modied. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all features of the invention be used conjointly since various features may be used to advantage in different combinations and sub-combinations.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. Ahinge construction for mounting-a swinging door member on a frame member comprising a bearing element secured to one of said members and an arcuate cam track `element secured to the other` member, said elements being concentric and adapted to move relatively oney on the other when the door member is swung between ,open and closed positions, said cam track elementhaving a high point positioned to be engagedbythe bearing element when thev door member is,too nearly adjacent to full closed positionto pass-a person and having on each sidefa downwardly inclined surface for automatically moving ithe bearing element to positionsfcorresponding to full open and full closed -positions respectively of the door member, Awhereby swinging thedoor member suiciently open to pass a person will cause the door member to tend automatically to swing to full open position andy whereby the door member will tend automatically to swing to full closed position only when moved too close to full closed position to pass a person.` f

.2. In a hinge'for mounting a swingirigfdoor member on a frame member, a cam coaxial with the hinge axis secured to one o'f-A the membersr and having a recess therein forreceiving a vbearing element secured to the other member to hold the door member in open position and having arcuate cam surfaces coaxial with the hinge axisand upwardly inclined from opposite sides of said recess and extending in opposite directions from said recess and around the :hinge raxis to adapt the hinge to doors opening with either 'a clock-'1 wise or a counter-clockwise swinging movement, a notch beyond the upper endof one of said inclined surfaces for receiving said bearing element to hold a clockwise opening door in closed position,` and a notch beyond the upper end of the other inclined surface Vfor receiving said bearing element to hold a :counter-clockwise opening door in closed position. y l

3. In a hinge for mounting a swinging door member on a frame member, a cam coaxial Vwith the hinge axis secured to one ofthe members and having therein a single-recess vfor receiving a bearing element securedto the other member to hold the door memberin open position and having arcuate cam surfaces coaxial with thehinge axis and upwardly inclined from opposite sides of said recess andvextending Iin opposite directions from said recess and around the hinge axis to adapt the hinge to doors opening with either a clockwise or a counter-clockwise swing-l ing movement, a notch beyond the upper end of one of saidinclined surfaces for receivingV said.

bearing element to hold a clockwise opening door in closed position, and a notch beyond the upper end of the other inclined surface for receiving said bearing element to hold a counter-clockwise opening door in closed position, whereby regardless of the direction in which the door is arranged to open the bearing element will be received in the single recess when the4 door is open, and whereby the bearing element will be received in one or the other of the two notches when the door is closed, depending on whether the door is arranged to swing clockwise or counter-clockwise in closing.

4. A hinge construction for mounting a swinging door member on a frame member comprising a bearing element secured 4to one of said members and an arcuate cam track element secured to the other member, said elements being concentric and adapted to move relatively one on the other when the door member is swung between open and closed positions, said cam track element having two circumferentially spaced high points, one positioned to be engaged bythe bearing element of a door member arranged to open in a clockwise direction and the other positioned to be engaged by the bearing element of a door member arranged to open in a counter-clockwise direction, each of said high points being so 1ocated that when it is engaged by the bearing element the door member will be too nearly adjacent to full closed position to pass a person, and each high point having on both vsides of it a downwardly inclined surface, two of said surfaces being relatively long and extending to a single recess -for receiving said bearing element to hold a door member in open position regardless of the direction in which the door member is arranged to swing to closed position, and each of the other two of said surfaces being relatively short and each extending to a separate notch, one of said notches being adapted to receive said bearing element for holding in closed position a door member arranged to swing clockwise to closed position and the other of said notches being adapted to receive said bearing element for ARTHUR F. BAUM. AXEL H. ANDERSON. 

